We know there’s no place like home, especially when faced with an illness which cannot be cured.
Our Hospice at Home Team of clinical nurse specialists, senior staff nurses, and senior healthcare assistants provide:
- specialist palliative care in the patient’s own home or at an outpatient appointment at the hospice
- advice on symptom management
- support and care to empower patients to remain at home at the end of their life
How we help
We can carry out an assessment of your needs and identify how St Richard’s may be able to help you, or signpost you to another service. If you require specialist palliative care from St Richard’s, we can:
- help you and your family manage specific issues that are causing concern. We spend time listening to your concerns, identifying problems and anxieties and helping you to find ways of managing these.
- work with you and your GP to reduce or control physical symptoms caused by your illness or treatment.
- invite patients to outpatient appointments at St Richard’s to help them with complex symptom management, advance health assessment, and to prescribe, if necessary.
- help you make informed choices for you and your family, using our expert knowledge to provide up-to-date and understandable information in a supportive and sensitive manner.
- work closely with other health and social care professionals to ensure seamless care. No one organisation can meet everybody’s needs, and that’s why it’s important for us to work with others to provide your care.
- refer you to other hospice services as appropriate, such as the In-patient Unit, Living Well Services, Family Support and hospice volunteer support.
- In order to support your care, we create a record for you. Click to see how your data is stored and used: strichards.org.uk/privacy-notice/patients-and-individuals-supported-by-st-richards
If support from St Richard’s is not right for you at this time, we will provide you with advice and guidance on how to access the appropriate service for your needs.
All care offered by St Richard’s Hospice is provided to you and your family free of charge. Please note that the team are not Macmillan Nurses and we do not receive any funding from Macmillan.
How can I be referred?
How to contact us
Contact the team via the St Richard’s Advice and Guidance line 01905 763963. You can call them between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday, or between 8am and 4pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Out of hours
If you need telephone advice on physical symptoms such as pain, or if you need to talk to a specialist nurse about any concerns or anxieties that cannot wait until the next working day, please contact us on 01905 763963.
Overnight your call will be answered by a member of our In-patient Unit staff.
From 8am to 4pm on weekends and bank holidays a nurse from the Integrated Community Service is available to provide support appropriate to your needs.
There are several steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of problems occurring outside normal working hours. Before the weekend, you are advised to:
- Check that you have sufficient medication or equipment for the weekend. If not, order further supplies from your GP practice.
- Organise with your District Nurse to care for dressings or catheter etc to reduce the need for urgent attention over the weekend.
Sometimes, unforeseen problems do arise outside of normal working hours, and you are advised to:
- Contact your GP Out of Hours service by calling the NHS 111 service if you feel suddenly unwell
- Contact your District Nurse if you require support because of physical needs such as changing dressings or catheter care.
Safety
To protect our staff at work in the community, they now carry devices where they can summon support services if required. Conversations will be recorded if a staff member requires support.
